Blood Star
by twiggilala
Summary: In an alternate future the original HiME are long deceased, and now it is up to twelve new HiMEs to defeat the star that controls their fate.


**Mai-HiME :: Blood Star**

**By twiggilala**

**Author's Note: **

I just watched all of Mai-HiME in three days. I fell absolutely in love with the show—it was fantastic. I'm an old school otaku Senshi maker, so I couldn't help but start creating an otaku HiME team as well.

This takes a detour from the canon, where the girls don't actually defeat the HiME Star and instead the world is mostly destroyed. This was mostly a convenient plot device to have the canon as a backdrop and introduce a new set of HiMEs.

I hope you enjoy. I think I'll probably update once or twice a week with a chapter. Feel free to tell me what you think through comments. Other than that, I don't own the concept of Mai-HiME, any of the canon characters, or any of the other rights of the series. I am just playing with them. However, I do own my characters. Onto the story…

**Chapter One :: Once upon a red star…**

_Once upon a time there was the world and in the world there were twelve very special girls: the HiMEs. These girls had wonderful powers bestowed upon them by a red star, but the powers came at a price. Their dearest person was linked to the power, and the only way to satisfy the red star was in the blood of all their dear ones; the last HiME standing would receive the full power of the star and their greatest wish. _

_However, the girls defeated the star, and they and all of their loved ones were granted a second chance at life. Fate would not be kind though, and soon the world crumbled under their feet—the star had not been defeated, merely weakened, and just as quickly as they had regained their lives everything fell apart around them. Only this time they did not have the star's blessing, and the world went up in flames with no one to protect them. _

_Now, three hundred years later the world finally found itself whole and modern again, a mirror image of itself when the HiMEs first defeated the star. And if the fairy tale is correct, it is about time for another twelve HiMEs to rise up._

* * *

"Oh, oneesama, I wish I could be a HiME." Kokoro threw herself onto Sora's lap, her blonde ringlets spilling out onto the blue sheets of her older sister's bed.

Sora laughed, running a hand through her own white-blonde hair (which was quite a bit shorter, only a few centimeters in length). "It's just a fairy tale, Koko-chan, nothing more." Dropping her hand into Kokoro's hair, the older woman smiled. It was a fairy tale with some truth: the world had fallen apart some three hundred years ago. It was only recently that their part of the globe had reached the point where they had been those years ago, and there were other parts of the world still reeling from the destruction. But HiMEs? Those were just a myth. People needed to believe that there were still flights of fancy after the devastation.

Kokoro jumped up, her bare feet hitting the ground with a crack of the floorboards, "They are real! And I'm going to be a HiME."

"Of course they are," Sora cooed, pulling the shorter girl to her. "And you'll be the best HiME ever."

"Well, duh." Kokoro grinned.

"It's hard to believe you're thirteen," Sora prodded the space between the girl's white cotton pajamas, causing Kokoro to turn pink and catch her breath between giggles.

"Hey!" Grabbing her sister's wrist, Kokoro used her free hand to wipe away the tears that had formed in the corners of her eyes. "I'm more mature than you." Sticking out her tongue, Kokoro raised an eyebrow, waiting for defiance.

Sora smiled, bowing her head, "It's time for bed Kokoro, come'on, off to your room."

Hands flew to her sides, and a whine crept into Kokoro's voice, "I want to sleep here tonight."

"I thought you said you were more mature than me." Sora looked up at her sister, her hands on her waist, looking petulant.

"I am!" Kokoro's face flushed, and she huffed. "I'm going to my room. Good night!"

Sora smiled as the smaller girl flew out of the room in a whirlwind of blonde hair and attitude. Sitting on the edge of her bed, the seventeen year old listened to the wind outside of her window. Tomorrow was a school day, and she wasn't interested in going to sleep quite yet. Even so, she could feel the exhaustion of a day spent celebrating her younger sister's birthday creeping under her skin, lulling her towards bed.

And then, there was the creak. Not just any old house sort of sound, but a genuine someone or something is sneaking around the house noise. The exhaustion was gone in a flash of adrenaline, and Sora could feel her muscles tensing. Her legs carried her off the bed as the sound sounded once again, and her hands shot out in front of her.

As she whispered something under her breath, inaudible to even her own ears, a green light gathered between her hands. In a moment's breathe the light solidified into a bow and arrow set, which seemed to gleam just beneath the surface with the radiance that had created it.

Bare feet slid across the wooden floor, and Sora stared down the black window, trying to scare whatever was outside away with her frightening glare. "You can do it Sora, just one more step." She was at the window, staring outside, face to face with the family cat. "Shit." Stumbling back the weapon that had come with a flash of light disappeared with a bright blink. Thum thum thum; her heart was racing. Running a hand through her boyish hair, Sora stepped forward, and opened the window, "Hey Satu, coming in?"

The cat chortled low in its throat and hopped past Sora into her bedroom, sauntering over to the bed. Standing by the window, Sora watched the tree outside shake with the passing breeze. Sighing, the girl threw the window shut once more and smiled at Satu curling up on her bed. "Hey, move over, I need room to sleep."

Flopping onto the empty space on her mattress, Sora turned back toward the window. "HiMEs aren't real." Rolling the edge of her pajama pants down, she ran her finger over the red symbol that had tattooed itself on her hip. "It's all a fairy tale…" Closing her eyes, Sora willed herself to sleep.

* * *

"Good morning Sora-chan." Sora could hear Kokoro preening as Yuudai approached from the left, a grin on his face as he fell into stride with the two blondes.

"Good morning Kurosawa-san." Kokoro coughed as Sora replied in greeting, glaring up at her younger sister.

"Ow, cold Sora-chan, wouldn't you agree Koko-chan?" The dark haired male peered around Sora, trying to catch the gaze of the thirteen year old on her other side.

Kokoro nodded sagely, "It was. Sora should be nicer to Yuu-chan. I'm going to marry him someday."

Sora blanched, and glared at Yuudai. "No, you are not."

Kokoro looked up at her sister's pale face and tipped her head, "Why not?"

"Because Yuu-chan," she pulled every letter of his name out between her teeth. "Can't keep his pa—"

Yuudai clamped his hand over Sora's mouth, "Enough of that. And Koko-chan, it's because your sister wants me for herself."

"Oh," Kokoro looked up at her sister. "If you want him, you should be nicer to him Sora. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

Sora was tempted to bite Yuudai's hand as he removed it, but held back. Kokoro didn't need to see Yuudai bleeding to death from a simple hand wound. "You're right, Koko-chan. I'm so sorry, Yuu-chan. Could you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?" Leaning against him, the androgynous blonde batted her eyes in his face, watching him flush as she breathed against his neck.

Payback was a bitch, and Sora grinned as she watched Yuudai jump into the air, flailing as he moved to get away from her. "Yuu-chan must either want oneesama quite a lot, or he can't stand being near her." Kokoro placed a finger beneath her chin, trying to pick which of the options was the more likely.

* * *

"Ah! Good morning Moe-chan!" Sora closed her eyes, placing her hand against her forehead. Yuudai had no sense of propriety. Waving his hand around, he tried to get the attention of a much shorter girl about six meters away—a girl who had a bit of a grudge against Yukimura Sora. It wasn't Sora's fault really. Moe had always seen herself as the local tomboy, as did Sora, and had dreamt of one day being the androgynous Prince of Fuka Academy. Puberty had not been so nice to Moe, as it was to Sora. While Moe didn't have a voluminous bosom or an hourglass figure, her facial features were sharp and effeminate, and rather than looking like a boy she was rather fae in appearance. Sora on the other hand grew tall, taller than most of the boys, and kept a straight figure with features that didn't scream male or female.

"Good morning Kurosawa-san, Yukimura-san." Sora envied Moe's asymmetrical haircut and punk-sensibility, but mostly she envied the silver hoop gracing the fifteen year old's nose.

"Morning Tachibana-san," while she would have liked to greet Moe with the friendly air Yuudai had, Sora erred on the side of formality, not wanting to upset the girl, who luckily appeared to be in a not-so-bitchy mood. "How is your first year going?" At one point, Sora could remember, she and Moe had been friends, growing up just down the street from one another, fighting over who would be the prince and who had to play the princess (Sora often ended up playing the princess, because Moe insisted blonde hair was more princess-y).

Moe scooped up her skateboard, tucking the deck against her bony hip, "You mean, other than having to deal with Wakahisa-san? It's going well."

Sora felt her cheek's flush, and had to disagree with Moe. Junko was a nice girl. Really, she was sweet, and talented. She just had a bit of an attention complex. That was it. Sora couldn't think of anything else wrong with the school's star runner.

Yuudai grinned, "Junko-chan is not that bad, Moe, you need to lighten up."

Moe did not think she needed to lighten up, and the dark look on her face was enough to make Yuudai scramble behind Sora. "Hey, hey, none of that," his shaking finger circled the general direction of Moe's glare.

The petite punk grinned and shook her head with a smirk. "You're too easy, Yuu-chan. I don't get why half of the girls here drool over you."

"You just wished they'd drool over you." Sora couldn't help it. She didn't really want to defend Yuudai, but the statement came out quicker than her brain could move.

Yuudai scratched his head. "Now, come on girls, don't fight over me." He didn't particularly like where the conversation was going and tried to rein it in, back to where it belonged: on him.

"You're just sore that the person you want doesn't drool over you." Moe replied flippantly, ignoring Yuudai's comment.

Sora furrowed her brow. "Wait, who are you talking about?"

Yuudai looked at Sora, and tipped his head. "Yeah, who are you talking about?"

Moe shrugged. "If you can't think of it, then you are still in denial. I'll tell you later, Yuudai-san."

With that Moe took off toward the towering Academy of Fuka, leaving Yuudai and Sora in her dust. "Hey! Wait! You can't just leave me hanging!" Sora waved her hand, running after Moe, Yuudai jogging in step.

* * *

"Yuu-chan!" Sora felt her cheeks warm up as Wakahisa Junko flew around the corner, latching onto the man walking beside her.

"Morning Junko-chan!" Yuudai grinned, wrapping his arm around the shorter (but not by much) girl.

"Morning Junko-san," Sora added her greeting with a slight bow of her head, eyeing the girl's hair. "Did you just get your hair cut?"

Junko pulled back from Yuudai with a jolt, put her hands beneath the soft slopes of her chin-length bob, and grinned. "Yeah, do you like it, Sora-chan?"

"It's very becoming." Yuudai nodded with a smile.

"Coach thought cutting some hair would be good, maybe cut some extra weight." Junko chuckled. "Mostly it'll just stay out of my eyes; no more fear of flyaway hair." The ebony haired runner gave a thumbs up with a grin.

Sora missed Junko's longer hair, but resigned herself to the fact she would have to get used to the new haircut. At least, it did frame Junko's cherubic features nicely. "It looks very nice."

Junko leaned in conspiratorially, pressing her frame against Yuudai. "So, I saw you two talking to Tachibana-san. Did she say anything bad about me? That girl is more trouble than her height should let her be. I was just trying to get her to join Student Council and now she acts like I'm crazy. Really, she needs to participate more in the school and less on that skateboard of hers doing stupid tricks. It's not going to get her anywhere."

Sora felt windblown by Junko's speech, but Yuudai simply patted her on the head (he was President of Student Council). "She's got time Junko-chan. Not everyone is filling up their resume quite as quickly as you are."

"President! President!" A stocky blonde girl rushed over, Sora couldn't place her name. Was it Sakura, no that didn't sound right, well she didn't have time to think on it anyway, the girl was still talking: "Come quickly something's happening in the Student Council room!"

* * *

Whatever they had expected to find was the exact opposite of what they found. Something wasn't happening in the Student Council suite. No, _something_ was _in_ the room. "What the hell is that?" "Has someone called security?" The questions swirled maddeningly as Yuudai, Sora, and Junko pushed their way through the crowd.

Through the square slab of glass in the door, Sora could make out a silhouette of what _it_ was—an Orphan. Not just an Orphan, mind you, it was a very big Orphan who looked very hungry/angry (Sora couldn't decide which).

Sora slipped her hand around the doorknob, watching out of the corner of her eye Yuudai rounding up all the students. She had to get in there without anyone noticing. "Sora? Come on!" Removing her hand from the cool metal, Sora nodded.

"Yeah, coming!" Her plan was forming. She'd go out with the rest of the students, and then she'd slip around the building and force her way into the suite. There. It was foolproof, right?

Except for the fact that as soon as she was half-way down the hall, the door flew off its hinges and the Orphan barreled into the hallway. "Shit!" Her legs were long, but she wasn't known for her speed or her agility, and Sora found herself stumbling as the monster gained on her. And damn, she couldn't summon her voodoo-HiME-magic-shit with everyone else around.

"Omph!" Sora skidded across the hallway as a force from the side took her down, into the lockers. "Moe?"

"Keep down. I'm going to distract it." The shorter female was up in a flash, and Sora wondered why Junko wasn't hassling her to join the track team instead of Student Council. As the girl rushed out in front of the huckling gray beast, Sora automatically felt guilty. She was supposed to be the one fighting it. Peering around, she couldn't see anyone, save herself, the Orphan, and Moe. "Shit, well, Moe, I hope you won't remember this."

Placing her hands in front of her, Sora muttered, "Here I go." The light from the night before reformed in her hands, glowing green as it materialized into her weapon. Drawing the string back on the arrow, Sora let loose a barrage on the Orphan, just as it raised its paw to swipe Moe into oblivion.

"Sora?" Moe's forehead was bleeding, and her eyes looked glazed. Sora hated feeling relived that the girl was on the brink of unconsciousness.

"It's just a dream, k? Don't think anything of it." As the Orphan barreled towards her, Sora closed her eyes. "Time to take it up a notch and finish this sucker… GRIFFIN!"

It felt like the world was coming apart beneath her and then she heard the thunderous arrival of her Child. Behind her, like a trusty tank-lion-bird-hybrid was Griffin aglow as his boosters began to fill with energy. "Let's end this!"

With brandish of her hand, Sora watched as the blasters let loose, smashing into the Orphan (and the lockers behind him, the school would have some repairs after this little fiasco). As the beam dissipated, the dust of the monster danced momentarily and dissolved into the air. Catching her breath, Sora wiped her brow, and turned back to the prone body of Tachibana Moe.

"I hope you don't remember any of this." Looping her arm around Moe, she scooped her up, slowly limping toward the front door. She hadn't noticed how much her ankle ached during the battle, but it seemed Moe's out of no where shove (though saving her from the Orphan) had sprained it.

* * *

"She'll be fine. I wonder what the hell that thing was though. And it just left you two alive?" Yuudai leaned against the wall outside of Moe's hospital room.

Sora rubbed the cast over her ankle. It wouldn't be of much help fighting Orphans. Hopefully some other HiME would come out of the cracks soon and help. "Yeah, it just sort of wandered off after it knocked Moe out. I don't know why. It just did." Sora bit the tip of her tongue. She hated lying, but it was for the best.

"Oneesama!" Sora coughed as Kokoro launched herself into her side. "Are you alright? I heard you were hurt!" There was a pause as the girl peered at the air-cast on her sister's leg. "Is that it?" Sora could hear Yuudai snort in response.

"That's it. I had to fight a monster to get this, I'll have you know." Sora poked Kokoro on the nose, and the thirteen year old shrugged.

"Oh well, I guess I should be glad you're alive. Still, you could have gotten a cooler injury! You should have lost an eye or something." Kokoro wrapped her arms around her older sister with a grin.

Yuudai gagged.

"You are a sadist." Sora chuckled.


End file.
